UK ranks 20th in Science

3 December 2013

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) administered by the OECD assesses the extent to which 15-year-old students acquire key knowledge and skills. 510 000 15 year olds completed the assessment in 2012, representing about 28 million students in the 65 countries and economies that take part. Read the full report.

The PISA results highlight a slight drop in science in the UK, back 4 places since 2003, to rank 20th out of 65 countries and regions.

Science – are we world class? is a must read article in the December edition of School Science Review (SSR) that evalautes this type of educational research. This article looks at a comparison of surveys on performance in science and mathematics, it says,

"Despite often negative media portrayal, data from international surveys show that England does perform within the world-class group in science" - Harriet Weaving and Gillian Whitehouse, NFER